Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow Us

Vampires, Zombies, and Necromancers: Catching up with the review pile . . .

I used to feel bad about these catch-up posts, but I've actually come to like them. There's a definite appeal in getting straight to the point and talking about my reaction to the text. Not that they'll ever replace my regular review format, but I find that they've freed me to read more, and that I'm enjoying more of what I read as a result - which is awesome for all involved.

Although it had a strong start, it felt like the story just sort of sloughed off all the quirky elements about halfway through, squandering a lot of its potential in the process. What's left is a decent period-era horror story, but it could have been much more.

Billie is an interesting character, a kick-butt heroine who is completely unnerved by her first zombie encounter, but she's somewhat overshadowed by Callie, the older, more sophisticated woman with more personality and more of a back story. Their romance is sweetly awkward, but a little too convenient to ring true.

The story opens with a lot of steampunk goodness, including Billie's robotic hand, airships, and more, but all of that is forgotten by the end. In fact, the best weapon in the book is a hooked chain, which is about as homespun basic as it gets. The zombies are probably the best part of the book, fast, violent, hungry monsters with a dangerous secret. It was a fun read, something to be breezed through in a single sitting, I just wish the steampunk quirks had been maintained.

As much as I enjoyed the first few Noble Dead books, this just didn't have the same hook for me. It's well-written, with a story that flows easily across the page, lending itself to a very quick read . . . but that's also the problem. The story was just too light for my tastes, without the kind of character depth, world-building, and atmosphere that I was looking for.

It opened strong, and I liked the characters of Tris and Mari, but I didn't care so much for the telling of the tale. It was very heavy on flashbacks and info dumps, and I found the character interactions a bit stilted.

I suspect I might have enjoyed this more, had I not previously read the Noble Dead Saga.

Wise Phuul by Daniel Stride
A fun story that throws the reader right into the midst of things, with no introduction, info-dumps, or hand-holding offered. It gets right to the story, and lets the characters lead us on our way.

Magic, faith, and politics all play a part in a book that's far more complex than I expected. This is one of those books I wish I could have read in paperback, with the glossary of names and places a bit more readily accessible. The story itself is a bit different from the usual epic fantasy narrative, with Phuul providing an intimate view of a conflict he's neither destined nor equipped to shape.

I liked the characters here, the word-building, and (perhaps most importantly) the necromantic aspects. Not just window dressing, the dead are an integral part of the world and its story. It's a gritty world and a gritty story, with some genuine drama and tension, but there's also ample humor to keep it from getting too bogged down in gloom.

Despite several stabs at it (no pun intended), I'm afraid this just wasn't to my tastes.

If I had to peg it down, I'd say there were two areas where expectations and experience just didn't connect. Firstly, I found the story to be too much Vikings and too little Vampires, and I'm simply not that excited about Viking-era fantasy. Second, I found it to be too focused on conflict and too little on the quest, where I was hoping for the opposite.

Don't get me wrong, it certainly had potential, with some solid writing and some decent character building, and from what I read of it the action was well done, but the story just didn't hold my interest.

This one just didn't work for me. It felt disjointed, as if too many story threads were forced together, and the logic of the story fell apart early on when I found myself on the side of the academic bad guys. As much as the country longs for a cure to the ongoing zombie crisis, turning them into immortal cyborgs hardly seems like the best idea.

For a book that was advertised as the story of Hans, his wife, and her lover, it's really the story of Hans, his scientific discovery, his hurt feelings, and his infatuation with a dead man, a stranger whom he inexplicably wants to wake up and love him.

Character motivations didn't feel genuine to me, and the story shifted too often to make sense.

Comments

I really enjoyed Dead Seekers, but then I hadn't read any of the Noble Dead Saga books before, so your comments intrigue me! I'm curious to pick up the older books now, I wonder if I would pick up the different nuances.

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Vampires, when they're done right, never get old. I'm not necessarily talking dark and evil, but edgy, supernatural, and without even a hint of sparkles. Vampire of Blackpool is one of those books that does vampires right, a quick read that left me wanting more.Catherine Green spins a tale of a vampire, a witch, a vampire hunter, and a vampire detective that has five-hundred years of history behind it. Meredith Hanson is an utterly fascinating protagonist, a tired, jaded vampire who has grown deliberately careless, just looking for a confrontation. A beautiful monster, she opens the story by feeding upon a pair of teenage lovers, and then flying out over the ocean to dump their bodies.

Samantha Morris, on the other hand, is the kind of young woman who defines romantic protagonist. She's a cute, innocent little witch, but one with claws and a backbone. Her flirting with Meredith open up the story in several ways, giving Meredith a reason to live again, while she plays refe…

Wow. I finished this over the weekend, and I am still struggling to find the right words to convey what a massive emotional impact it had on me. Assassin's Fate is everything I could have asked of Robin Hobb - an entirely satisfying conclusion to not just the story of FitzChivalry Farseer, but that of the entire Realms of the Elderlings and all its interconnected works.

This is a book of Farseers, Fools, White Prophets, Liveships, Dragons, are more. It's as if everything that Hobb has ever teased or hinted at before is finally realized here. Not content to merely rip out our hearts, she tears the entire world asunder, ensuring that no corner of the Six Duchies will rise from the ashes of Fitz's final story unchanged. Let there be no mistake, this is a book of endings. Yes, there are new beginnings to be found as well, but Assassin's Fate marks the end of so many characters and storylines that it's easy to miss some of them.

Follow the Money by Gail Z. Martin
Follow the money. If you want to know why someone is doing something--especially if it's something they shouldn't be doing--follow the money.

All too often in epic fantasy, we just start with the assumption that the king and nobility were born wealthy and go from there. Things get interesting when you start asking questions. Where did they get their money? Was it a one-time thing (like a grant or a reward or a treasure) or is there an ongoing flow of money--and where does it come from? How financially stable are they really? What would it take to make them unstable? Who had money and lost it? Who wants money and will do anything to get it? Does money equal social status? Are there people who kept status and lost money? Got money and couldn't get status? What about those who fell out of favor or were born on the wrong side of the blanket?

When I set up the world for my new Darkhurst series (first book, Scourge debuts July 15), I came at it…